Recap: Cincinnati vs. St. Louis

Cincinnati, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Five hours and 25 minutes after the game was scheduled to start, Chris Heisey gave the Cincinnati Reds a walk-off win.

Heisey's pinch-hit single in the ninth inning scored Ryan Ludwick to lift the Reds to a 1-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in a rain-delayed game that was dominated until the end by good pitching.

Ludwick and Frazier led off the ninth with back-to-back singles off Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez and both moved up on Zack Cozart's bunt. After Martinez (0-1) intentionally walked Brayan Pena, Heisey laced an 0-1 fastball into left field and was mobbed by his teammates in the infield.

It was new Reds manager Bryan Price's first win as a major league skipper.

"From a selfish standpoint it feels great," said Price. "From a team standpoint it feels even better because it's good to get the ball rolling."

There were only six total hits in the game before Cincinnati's three singles in the ninth.

That's mostly because Reds left-hander Tony Cingrani and Cardinals righty Michael Wacha combined to strike out 16 batters and allow only five hits in 13 2/3 combined innings after the start of the game was delayed 2 hours and 40 minutes because of rain.

The Cardinals won the season-opener 1-0 on Monday on Yadier Molina's home run in the seventh.

The finale of the three-game series is scheduled to start 12 hours after the finish of Wednesday night's game at 12:35 a.m.

Joey Votto was 2-for-3 with a double and reached base three times for the Reds. Ludwick was the only other player with two hits.

The starters basically came out at the same time in the bottom of the seventh -- Cingrani for pinch-hitter Roger Bernadina and Wacha for Kevin Siegrist, who got Bernadina on a fly out to end the inning.

Cozart, the Reds shortstop, made an inning-ending diving catch in shallow center field to potentially save a run in the eighth after Manny Parra had given up a double to Kolten Wong.

J.J. Hoover (1-0) struck out Matt Adams with runners at first and second base to escape the top of the ninth inning and ended up getting the win.

"We had a tough stacking any kind of offense on top of anything we got going," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny.

Cingrani, who was 2-0 against St. Louis last season, fanned nine and allowed two hits and two walks in his seven frames. Wacha, who won his first four postseason starts last season for the NL champion Cardinals, walked one and struck out seven.

Votto sliced a two-out double to left field in the first inning for his 1,000th career hit. It was Cincinnati's only baserunner until Votto's one-out single in the fourth. The Reds loaded the bases in the inning, but Cozart grounded into a force out to end the threat.

Cingrani worked his way through the Cardinals lineup without a baserunner before Matt Carpenter led off the fourth with a single. He escaped trouble in the seventh with runners at first and second base when he got Molina to fly out to left field, then struck out Adams to end the inning.

Game Notes

Ludwick was hit on outside of his left hand by a 93 mph Wacha fastball in the
fourth inning. The ball also caught home plate umpire Kerwin Danley in the
mask. Both were looked at by trainers and remained in the game ... Two right-
handers will start the series finale on Thursday: Lance Lynn for the Cardinals
and Homer Bailey for the Reds.